Braver Angels - Connecting Across the Partisan Divide - 027
People of Faith for Justice
Civic engagement in the U.S. has been on the decline for many decades. Citizens are participating in public affairs too infrequently, too unequally, and in too few venues to develop and sustain a robust democracy. What’s more, effective engagement is being seriously hampered by a partisan divide between people that seems to be growing. Our podcast this month takes a look at how these divisions are affecting our relationships, and what we can possibly do about it. There are groups currently working to facilitate interactions between people despite their political disparity. The non-profit...
info_outline
Weaving Our Garment of Destiny - A Pilgrimage - 026
People of Faith for Justice
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that.” These words, written by Martin Luther King, beckon us to a search for truth and meaning in the quest for racial justice and human rights everywhere. Two of our guests today, Ken Hill and Gina Whitaker, spent three weeks traveling the U.S. Civil Rights Trail this past October through Mississippi and Alabama. Everywhere they went, everyone they met and all the...
info_outline
Climate Change - Global Challenges, Local Solutions - 025
People of Faith for Justice
Global climate change is on all our minds these days…or is it? Should it be? How can we ignore it? We live our lives, trying to maintain the status quo, but our status quo is leading to suffering and destruction. There is nothing that is in our lives that is not touched today by global climate change. The homes we build and live in, our transportation, the weather we experience every day, the clothes we wear, the trash we discard, the fuel that powers our heat, lights and automobiles, the food we choose to eat, how our cities, towns and buildings are designed…there is nothing that isn’t...
info_outline
How to Do Prison Time Successfully with Author Emanuel Bell - 024
People of Faith for Justice
None of us ever thinks that they, or anyone they know, will ever end up in jail or prison. But if life throws you a curveball and you find yourself, a family member, or friend incarcerated, wouldn't it be good to know all that awaits you behind those prison walls? During his 17 ½ years in prison, Emanuel Bell hit a lot of bumps in the road. It took him 14 years to understand how to successfully do prison time and stay out of trouble. Emanuel attended a creative writing class at Solano Prison, and learned how to successfully write a book; the result is the newly published How to Serve...
info_outline
2018 Paso High Grads - Still Dreaming Big - 023
People of Faith for Justice
We hope you were able to listen to last month’s conversation with Geoffrey Land, Social Studies teacher at Paso High, along with two of his current students who shared their process of becoming scholar activists, learning to speak out for justice and inclusion. We are excited this month to have Beatriz Lopez as our guest! Beatriz was also a student of Geof Land while at Paso Robles High School. In 2018 she participated in a community forum in which Beatriz and eight other undocumented students at PRHS came from the shadows to share their stories openly. Following the forum, Mr. Land...
info_outline
I Do It For the Kids - Geoffrey Land SLO County Teacher of the Year - 022
People of Faith for Justice
Our guests today are Geoffrey Land, a Social Studies teacher at Paso Robles High School who has just been named the SLO County Teacher of the Year, and two of his students, Israel Perez and Ana Lopez, both seniors at Paso High. A teacher and his students? What could be more ordinary, right? Not so…what makes this podcast special is the fact that Geoffrey Land is no ordinary teacher, and Ana and Israel are no ordinary high school seniors. Mr. Land has been busy teaching justice-making and activism at Paso Robles High School, and Israel and Ana have both been applying his lessons to real life...
info_outline
Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall - 2022 Woman of the Year - A Lifetime of Service - 021
People of Faith for Justice
Rev. Dr. Caroline Addington Hall, Rector of St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in Los Osos, has been recognized this year by the office of Congressional Representative Salud Carbajal as an outstanding Women of the Year Award recipient. Caro has been our friend, colleague and partner in working for positive change in our Central Coast communities for decades. Rev. Hall has been described as tireless, fearless, and an incredible communicator. She is a published author, an advocate for the unhoused, for the LGBTQA+ community, for the environment, for social justice, for children, and for our furry...
info_outline
America’s Gun Problem - What Makes Us Different? - 020
People of Faith for Justice
There are too many guns in the United States of America! Four hundred million firearms are owned by civilians in America–400 million–more guns than the US population. Nationally, there are more than 45,000 deaths caused by guns every year; that’s nearly 125 Americans per day killed by firearms. As of this year, guns are now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1-19. As horrifying as these statistics are, they are only a small part of the story. The real stories are told by the victims, their families, friends, teachers and all who loved them. The loss, trauma, pain, fear,...
info_outline
Earth Eternity - Healing Our Mistakes - 019
People of Faith for Justice
Our guests today are three friends from the Central Coast of CA who share a mission: to make the Earth a better place for all their descendants. Earth Day, Earth Month, Earth Year–why not an Earth Eternity? We know that nothing lasts for eternity; one day, scientists say, our Sun will fail us and leave everything in darkness and cold, long after life on planet Earth no longer exists. But what about now? How do we celebrate our Earth’s longevity, long after a day in April, a month in Spring or a year from now? Spend the next hour with our guests June Cochran, Kelly Fisher and Grace...
info_outline
Slava Ukraini - A Nation of Survivors - 018
People of Faith for Justice
Our guests today are three women from the Central Coast of CA who share their Ukrainian heritage and the pain, fear and anger they are experiencing during the current, ongoing Russian invasion of their country of origin. Our interview was remarkable. You will hear strong emotions expressed; some of the stories and concerns will be troubling. There is death, famine, war and struggle in Ukraine’s history. But there is beauty, art, joy, resolve and strength as well. RELEVANT LINKS (Permanent Makeup Artistry site) (Fine Art site) (Santa Ynez Valley Star) (by Oksana Yakushko) (by...
info_outlineEach Memorial Day, our thoughts turn to all the men and women who have died serving our country in the military, both during peacetime and during war. It is a time when individually and as families and as a nation we reflect on the nature of war and the significance of military service, and to help in our reflection, we welcome Geronimo Whitaker and Peter Lucier to our program. Our guests are veterans of two very different wars fought in very different times, one as an Army foot soldier in Vietnam and the other as a Marine in Afghanistan, but each has known the violence, the loneliness, and the lasting effects of war, and in that sense, they also share a common bond.
We offer our special appreciation to Garett Reppenhagen, Executive Director of Veterans for Peace, and Pat Alviso, Executive Director of Military Families Speak Out, for their assistance in arranging for our guests on this podcast.
RELEVANT LINKS
- Washington Post series on "The Afghanistan Papers"
- Peter Lucier, a veteran and a Catholic, wrestles with the lies of war and his faith.
- Peter Lucier, writing on "Not Your Messiah"
- Peter Lucier reflects, "As a soldier I was loved for my sins. Now I must repent for them."
- Veterans for Peace
- Military Families Speak Out
- About Face - Veterans Against the War
- Note: The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock is expected on Aug. 31, 2021.
GUEST INFO
Geronimo Whitaker
Geronimo was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1949 into a career military family. His father, James A. Whitaker, was in the US Army Air Force and served as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. Growing up on military bases all around the world gave Geronimo a perspective of equality among people. When he enlisted in the Army during the Vietnam War, he was continuing a long tradition among his family members of service in the military. During his Army enlistment, he served as an Infantry Squad leader/Non-Commissioned officer in the 1st Cavalry Division, Airmobile, Republic of Vietnam, 1971.
Today, Geronimo describes himself as an artist, writer, and storyteller, especially of traditional African and Afro-American folk tales, as well as a drummer, guitarist, song writer and singer. He is familiar with theater as both an actor and a director, and has been a playwright, novelist and military journalist, as well as a martial artist, a Licensed Physical Therapist and an instructor in the Healing Arts. Geronimo is a Nationally Certified “B Level” AYSO Youth Soccer Coach, an entrepreneur and a world traveler.
Geronimo lives in Edmonds, Washington with his wife, surrounded by grandchildren and family. His three sons and newest grandbaby live in the Bay area of CA, and in Brooklyn NY.
Peter Lucier
Born in St. Louis, raised in Dallas, Peter moved back to St. Louis in 2004. In 2008 he graduated from Saint Louis University High School, a Jesuit school in the city of St. Louis. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2008. From 2009-2011 he served in a Fleet Anti-Terrorism and Security Team (FAST) platoon, deploying to Guantanamo Bay, Spain, and Bahrain. From 2011-2013 he was a scout with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in Camp Pendleton, deploying to Afghanistan in 2011. He was honorably discharged from active duty as a corporal in 2013.
Peter attended Montana State University where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in political science in 2018. His writing career began in 2015 when he joined a group of former junior enlisted writers who contributed to Tom Rick’s Best Defense blog. His writing has since appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, America Magazine, US Catholic, and many more publications. He primarily writes about military and veteran issues, especially faith and military service.
His 2017 piece, “Not Your Messiah,” examines how veterans fulfill a dual messianic role in American civil religion – sacrificial lambs and high priests of civic holidays. His 2019 piece for America Magazine looked at the Catholic ritual of penance as a mechanism for healing the wounds of war. He has also written for the Washington Post on how to respond to the lies of war, as a Catholic, and in response to the Afghanistan Papers.
Lucier currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri where he continues to write, and is a law student at St. Louis University.
SUPPORT PFJ
We greatly appreciate your financial support so that we can continue to educate, advocate and pray for the things that matter to our organization. Please consider donating through PayPal.
People of Faith for Justice is a 501 (c )(3) non-profit organization.
CREDITS
The People of Faith for Justice Podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Manildi
Music for the People of Faith for Justice Podcast is provided by Andrew Gorman